No Restrictions for STAA Trucks Coming and Going From Humboldt Now on 299

Caltrans is pleased to announce that Route 299 is now free of STAA restrictions from the U.S. Highway 101 junction in Humboldt County all the way to Interstate 5 in Redding. This change in designation comes shortly after Caltrans District 2 completed improvements at Buckhorn Grade in Shasta County.

The 1982 Surface Transportation Assistance Act (STAA) set the bar for trucks sized to industry standards. As STAA trucks have become the national standard, communities with major routes unable to provide STAA access have been at an economic disadvantage.

“The opening of Route 299 to STAA standards provides another link for industry standard-sized trucks to reach the North Coast from the rest of California and beyond,” said Caltrans District 1 Director Matt Brady. “U.S. Highway 101 from just north of Richardson Grove in Humboldt County to the Oregon border is already accessible by STAA industry standard-sized trucks.”

The scenic east-west route has been the site of multiple projects in recent years to prevent truck off-tracking by realigning tight curves.

Yeah business people will love all the extra money they have to spend taking 299 through Redding from the bay area. Sorry, but my fear of dying in the narrow ‘Grove because this long-needed project keeps getting delayed for no reason has not gone away.

If you’re talking about Richardson Grove, that project fucks with things not. Read the hundreds of pages of documents certified with the collaboration of a renowned arborist, legal experts, biologists, and environmental experts at the state and national level. They all agree it won’t harm the redwoods.

No need to risk the last few percentage of remaining redwood forest, just have trucks over a certain length go over 299. Putting economy over ecology is why only a few percent of these forest remain on earth. Time for responsibility, time for change.

Maybe Buckhorn is improved but what about from Weaverville west? Did anybody from CalTrans get out of their comfort zone and travel from Weaverville to the 101 corridor? I live along hwy 299, I can just see some out of the area truck driver driving 299 and letting their back duals cheat over the line at places where there is no place to run. CalTrans has made a terrible mistake.

Yes, I agree with you, concerned trinity county resident. This is horrible for those of us who live along the hwy 299 corridor. None of us wanted this, must have been the powerful trucking lobbyists! We the people don’t matter any more and our safety is low on the priority list.

Too expensive, too many angry business owners, too many additional environmental issues. You think people are bummed about a no-impact project like Richardson Grove, just wait until you look at the assessment of a bypass.

When they were running wood chip to the bay from weaverville there was, at least, one overturned chip truck a month…. made for a lot of free woodchips. I wonder what the crash rate will be now with a bunch of drivers in 61′ trucks who don’t know the road.

It would be helpful if people read STAA federal regs, CA state regs, and Caltrans regs before making uneducated comments. While trailer lengths are longer under Fed regs, the span between axles remains the same. In other words, same track. Stay off your phones and pay attention, you’ll live longer.

the drivers are trained professionals that use to make this run over and over. now days we are dealing with truck drivers that barley speak English or not at all. The roads have nothing to do with the drivers, its the lack and or knowledge of the roads and trucks being driven. You cant blame a road that has been here longer than we have, its the lack of knowledge and experience. most truckers that deliver here are from flat land and three lanes. If you’re a professional truck driver you’ll blame yourself not the road.

This is really stupid on caltrans part!!! They have restricted the places that you are able to pass so now you will have to follow these trucks, some of them do not know the roads and slow down to 30-40 miles on parts of 299 and a lot of the trucks and cars can’t seem to read or understand what slower traffic pull over means, they also step on it when you do hit one of the few passing lanes so no one can get around them. Of course taking out passing lanes and yellow dotted lines was done for our safety by the state. What is going to happen when we have the next big slide? They need to use 101 not 299!